Royals Rant

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Well, the 12-3 start to September was fun but I somehow knew it wouldn't last. The Royals reverted back to mid-season form and lost 3 straight to the Twinkies. They've done it in a spectacular, keystone cops like, god-awful fashion.

8 errors in 3 games. A shitload of unearned runs and crappy pitching to boot. When Hillman took this job he guaranteed the team would "play catch", meaning improve defensively. LMAO. Sorry, but you just can't teach that shit at this point. If they can't play defense or have plate discipline by now, you aren't gonna teach it to them. No matter how much Japanese baseball zen you impart on them. Successfully making put-outs and not giving away your outs are the most important thing you can do. You only get 27 each game.

Dayton Moore and Hillman are obviously here in 2010 so please, please make some changes. The 2009 season was just another pile of steaming crap with a few bright spots. (Billy & Zack)I'm going to follow Rany and say I'm done with this. LOL. With 7 games left, I refuse to watch this shit again until 2010. LOL. I tried to make it all season but could only get through 155 games... and that took a lot of Maalox & Beer.

The changes that need to be made have been covered and wished for and prayed and begged for by the fans all year. So instead of saying please get rid of this player or that. You go ahead and decide Dayton. I have no other choice but to trust you now that you're here for the foreseeable future. I guess Trey is too but he can only play the guys you give him. Ultimately it's on you to build a better team. Time to muscle up and try again in 2010. Unfortunately we've been saying that for nearly 20 years... It's getting fucking old.

Sigh... I was going to address each player individually but never mind... I don't have the energy to cover the reasons that almost EVERY offensive player needs to be replaced.

Please shit-can the entire bullpen as well, because... oh man, do we need to go into that too.

If you can't see it, nothing we (the fans) can say will make you realize it. Arrogance will do that.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Wow, it took 6 outs by Soria tonight to beat Oakland 4-3 at the Raiders Black Hole. It sucks for the A's to play in that crappy converted football stadium. I'd feel worse for them if Charlie Finley hadn't moved the A's from KC to Oakland in 1967.

Maybe I'd be watching the Kansas City A's instead of the Royals sorry excuse for a team. I should be more optimistic after a win but really... is there any question why we're 30 games under .500?

Kansas City Royals Offense 2009

Team BA - Dead last in the ALTeam OBP - Dead last in the ALTeam HR - #13 in the ALTeam Runs Scored - #13 in the ALTeam RBI - #13 in the ALTeam BB - #13 in the ALTeam SB - Tied for dead last in the ALTeam SLG - #12 in the ALHitter VORP - Dead last in AL & MLBTeam Defensive Efficiency - Dead last in AL & MLB

Memo to Dayton & Trey: There's only 14 teams in the AL. That means our current players... SUCK

I know the bullpen has been total shit but this is about our pathetic offense. It's hard to believe how we've wasted some of the great starting pitching we've had this season. You see, you can't win if you can't get on base. Or hit, or steal, or slug, or drive runners in.

Your only choice is to blow this roster up and start over in the off season.

I've seen enough of Teahen. He's basically the same statistically as DeJesus but with less walks and more strike outs. He's not gonna get any younger and he ain't gonna change now. He always fails in clutch situations.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The 2009 Royals have the worst offense in the history of the team. Wow. That's hard to believe with some of the awful players we've fielded the last 20 years. I miss Ewing Kauffman. Things sure have changed since high school. I graduated in 1985 so you may think I long for the glory days... Well, I do in a roundabout way.

To be honest I never was into sports much back then. I went to an occasional Chiefs or Royals game if someone got tickets but I didn't live and die with the teams or even follow them much. I did used to stay up at night reading the Encyclopedia of Baseball. A big hardback book I'd gotten for Xmas one year around age 10 or so. I loved the stories of Ruth and Gherig, Jimmy Foxx, Hank Greenburg, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, etc. But I never considered myself a fan of any particular team. I just loved the history of it all. I guess I still do.

I did play 8-11 baseball in grade school. It was like 3&2 I guess (everyone's heard of that around here) but nobody ever heard of 8-11. I was really no good at it. I would have liked to been better but I just wasn't talented enough at that age to do anything like that. I remember being relegated to RF usually and striking out A LOT. Mostly I rode the bench but I had fun because of the camaraderie among teammates... Although, to this day I can only remember one of those guys. His name was Donnie Lukey and we were all sure he was gonna be in the majors someday. He hit doubles and triples all over the field and pitched lights out. We all thought it was cool that he could hit 55 MPH on the coaches radar gun. In 4th grade! That was the speed limit back then!

This was 3rd & 4th grade I believe (so 1975 & 76) and we were the Indians. (We of course, wanted to be the Royals) We wore maroon & white double-knit (very hot) uniforms with the long socks that I loved. I also loved hearing my cleats click-clack on the floor as I walked although I was careful not to scrape them when walking on the asphalt so I didn't "wear them out". This was my Mom's nugget of useful info. We finished dead last the first year. I don't think we even won a game. The second year we won the league championship and got a trophy, that I wish I still had, with virtually the exact same team. I never understood how that happened but I was ashamed that I got a trophy since I was such an inconsequential, bad player.

We moved after 4th grade and I never got back into baseball, I guess assuming I would always be bad at it. Around age 33, I got into Men's and Coed softball to try to re-live those lost years and regret. I was a much better fielder, usually playing SS or 3B. I didn't strike out anymore but never hit a HR either. It was slow pitch though, LOL. Growing up, the Royals were usually the talk of the town. My friend Paul Garber & I collected baseball cards and I had the Royals Blue jacket most kids had then, but I still didn't follow the team. I guess because we didn't get a TV until I was 13 didn't help that endeavor. I wish I had those cards now too.

I do remember George's push for .400 and the 1980 World Series. I couldn't believe we lost to Philly. I'd never watched the NL so I had no idea how good they really were. Unbelievably, I don't have any memory of 1976-78 and those post-season losses to the Yankees. I suppose I'm glad now because living and dying with the Chiefs in the 90's was heartbreaking for me. The only play I saw of the 1985 World Series was Sundburg scoring in Game 6.

I saw it live at a party in Jeff Jenkins basement. Somebody had flipped on a crappy B&W TV just before it happened and we all screamed and threw Grape Malt Duck all over the ceiling of his finished basement. I checked the box score the next day and saw we won Game 7 but there was no celebration from me. I was happy they won but I just didn't follow sports like I do now. It really seems unbelievable to me now but I guess I was too wrapped up in my life of bagging groceries, gear-heading my car and lusting after girls to worry about sports then.

This blog is getting really long and if you're still reading I must be doing OK. I got married in 1988 and started following the Chiefs and Royals not long after. I worked in a warehouse full of guys older than me, most of which were sports fans. Break time always turned to sports talk. I really followed the Chiefs starting with Barry Word's 200 YD game against Detroit in 1990. I remember George's 3000th hit during a California Angels game and his later retirement, Hal McRae's blowup, The strike...UGH, Damon, Dye & Beltran, Sweeney, Neifi Perez... UGH, Bob Hamelin, Tony Muser, TPJ Sr., Kevin McReynolds, Angel Berroa, Gary Gaetti, Bob Boone and his 1,001 lineups. All the good and bad players that have come & gone over the years. I've followed the Royals (& Chiefs) pretty close since the early 90's. I still miss Marty Schottenheimer.

I used to drive my wife crazy after wins by switching from ESPN to ABC to CBS to Fox to NBC trying to see all the highlights on the news to get maybe a different take on the game, a trade or an injury. I also listened to the Z-Man on 1510 KCTE (before the fire) and Don Fortune on 980 KMBZ as they eventually morphed into 810 WHB (with Kietz) and 610 KCSP and all the guys that have come and gone at those stations over the last 20 years.

So there's some background on me. Every post may not be about the Royals, or even sports, but I wanted someplace to pour out my thoughts. So here we are!!!